Dehlin: If JS didn't need the plates to translate, why did Nephi have to kill Laban?
 

https://twitter.com/johndehlin/statu...46868202426369

This got deleted on CB when I posted it, for "giving attention to an anti-Mormon apostate."

Perhaps Nephi didn't have to kill Laban but merely wanted to.

And used Exodus 21 to justify.

As I mentioned before, he's writing this years later. He's been thinking about it a long time. He really feels like he needs to justify it. So he makes this very detailed account and justification. He must sense that others might not approve, or that he himself doesn't approve.